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Martinez sentenced to life in prison

Despite the defense insisting there was no physical evidence to prove the charges, jurors needed less than an hour to find David Manuel Martinez guilty of sexual battery Thursday.

Senior Judge Edward E. Hedstrom immediately sentenced Martinez, 38, to two terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole and three 30-year sentences for the five counts on which he was convicted.

Both Martinez and the alleged victim took the stand for brief sessions Thursday morning before the jury was sent off for deliberations around noon. The six jurors — all white, four men — were back with a guilty verdict on all five counts well before 1 p.m.

There was little emotion from Martinez during the reading of the verdict or during his testimony. It was quite a contrast from the often angry man the jury heard on the recordings from the jail phone calls that were played Tuesday.

The only sign of the weight of the verdict he might have felt was the way he leaned on the defense table after the delivery of the guilty verdict on the first count of sexual battery on a person less than 12. Guilty verdicts on the other four counts soon followed.

It was evident that the case came down to which witness the jury believed: the victim, now a teenager, or the defendant.

On the stand Thursday, Martinez answered simply, “No ma’am,” when asked whether he touched the victim inappropriately. He gave the same answer when asked if fellow St. Johns County jail inmate James Pleasant had been truthful in his testimony about Martinez admitting to sexual contact with the victim.

Martinez also said the complaints that prompted visits from the Florida Department of Children and Families were “unfounded.”

After a short cross from assistant state attorney Kelly Wark, the defense rested its case.

The victim was then recalled and asked about the visits from DCF. On the first one, she didn’t admit any sexual abuse.

“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t feel comfortable,” she said.

But on the second visit, she said abuse had been taking place. She was asked why it took a second visit to report the abuse.

“Because I felt comfortable because it was a woman (DCF worker),” the victim said.

Testifying for a second time that she had been abused (she testified at length Monday) clearly left a strong impression on the jury.

“(The victim) did exactly what he (Martinez) hoped she would not have the courage to do: She spoke,” Dunton said.

Dunton also stressed the consistent reports that the victim placed a blanket over her head when she was subjected to gynecological exams. Dunton argued that it was a result of the victim being forced to put a blanket over her head when Martinez would abuse her.

Defense attorney Marcella Beeching attacked the testimony of Pleasant and all the physical evidence. She said the DNA evidence from the mattress cuttings — from Tuesday’s testimony — proved nothing more than the fact that Martinez and the victim both lived in the same place.

“They both shared the same house; that’s not evidence, that’s speculation,” Beeching said.

Beeching pointed to the fact that Martinez did not try to flee despite knowing of the DCF investigation as evidence of his innocence.

“He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong,” Beeching said.

In the state’s rebuttal, Wark said Martinez simply assumed the victim would never have the nerve to admit what he had done to her.

“He had her silence for five years,” Wark said. “He knew that if whatever happened in that room stayed in that room, he had nothing to worry about.”

Wark broke down the case in simple terms.

“Who here has the motivation to be truthful?” she asked. “Who has the motivation to lie?”

The jury obviously believed the victim.

The two counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years old on which Martinez was found guilty are both punishable by life in prison. That was the sentence Hedstrom handed down. Martinez was also found guilty of three counts of sexual battery, engaging in sexual conduct with a minor 12 to 18 years old by a person in familial or custodial authority. Each count carries a possible sentence of 30 years, and Hedstrom imposed that sentence for all three counts.